http://www.modbee.com/24hour/world/story/393548.html
"Faced with partially empty arenas, authorities have mobilized armies of volunteers to attend Olympic events, despite the fact that all seven million tickets to the Summer Games were sold out or distributed to national Olympic committees.
Some of the Chinese spectators appear lost at the intricacies of the events they watch as they sit in blocks in stands, wearing colored T-shirts and waving flags.
IOC member Kai Holm, a Dane, called them "phony spectators."
"They sit around in small groups, some in yellow shirts, some in red shirts," Holm said. "They do not understand the rules of the game they cheer. It's a little bit funny."
Holm said leaders tell volunteers when to cheer: "They are applauding by signs."
"On Friday, China acknowledged that children clad in ethnic costume who carried the Chinese flag at the ceremony were not actually from any of China's 56 minority ethnic groups.
Wang, the games spokesman, dismissed criticism of the fakery, saying the children were "actors and actresses and performers."
"It is typical for Chinese performers to wear different apparel from different ethnic groups. There is nothing special about it," Wang said at a news briefing. "They will wear different apparel to signify people are friendly and happy together."
China's majority Han Chinese, who make up about 92 percent of the nation's 1.3 billion people, have poor relations with some of the minority groups, particularly Tibetans and Uighurs, a restive Muslim minority in China's far west, which has been roiled by separatist violence."
Phony spectators, phony minority/ethnic dance groups, ...why am I not surprised?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08....html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"A talented, 26-year-old Chinese dancer was seriously injured during a rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic games just 12 days before the show, and faces the prospect of being paralyzed for the rest of her life.
Liu Yan, considered one of the country?s top classical Chinese dancers, was preparing the performance of a lifetime: the only solo dance in a four-hour spectacular that was expected to be seen by a global audience of more than one billion people.
But on July 27, during an evening rehearsal at Beijing?s National Stadium, the so-called Bird?s Nest, she leaped toward a platform that malfunctioned and plunged about 10 feet into a shaft, landing on her back, according to family members. "
"The organizers of the opening ceremony initially asked witnesses and friends not to disclose the accident ahead of the Olympic Games on Aug. 8, according to people who have visited Liu in the hospital. "
Accidents can and do happen in any kind of event, be it sporting or entertainment. Everyone understands that. Why has the Chinese government gone to such extremes to cover it up? Of course, now that it has been brought to light (by the Falun Gong paper according to my local paper) the Chinese are doing their best to turn her into a national hero...
Has China dishonored itself? IMO, yes, not only are they faking anything they need to, they do their best to cover up anything that MIGHT be seen as a negative...I'd say they are losing much face.